WHILE many couples slump in front of the television at night, one Hampshire couple set their sights on the skies.

Since moving to Fareham earlier this year, Ian Bentley and Zoe Stevens have been amazed at the mysterious lights darting over Hampshire.

Now they have set up a new UFO research group to help explain the county’s very own X-Files.

Ian, a 33-year-old IT consultant, said other “ufologists” had also spotted the bright balls of light flying through the night sky.

“It’s too big and bright to be a plane or satellite and as you’d expect makes no sound. It appears to be at about cloud level and the weird thing is it seems to get brighter when you look at it, then it dims,” he said.

“We've looked at it through binoculars but can make out no features it just appears to be a bright white ball moving a bit faster than a plane.”

According secret files released by the Ministry of Defence, UFOs were spotted in the skies of Hampshire more than 40 times in the past ten years.

With blockbuster alien movie District 9 opening yesterday, the pair called on fellow sky-watchers to report any odd or unexplained sightings.

“I believe that life exists in the universe, whether or not the UFOs are aliens is another ballgame altogether. We just try to be open-minded,” Ian said.

Zoe, a 27-year-old science student, added: “When people say UFO they think of little green men in flying saucers, but there is more to it than that.”

Their group replaces the Southampton UFO Group which disbanded last year after 18 years.

The Fareham UFO Group (FUFORG) will meet for the first time at the Clinkers Tavern, in Fareham, at 8pm on Thursday, September 8. Go to fuforg.com for more information.

%movie(31028)

A clip from alien movie District 9.